Wigneswaran declines Rajapaksa's offer to accompany him to New Delhi

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 May 2014, 13:11 GMT]In a letter to SL Minister for External Affairs, G.L.Peiris, the
Chief Minister of Northern Provincial Council (NPC) CV Wigneswaran on
Friday declined to accept an invitation to him to accompany the SL
President Mahinda Rajapaksa to New Delhi to the swearing in of Indian
Prime Minister Elect Narendra Modi. "Primarily, because acceptance would
indicate that there exists a strong co-operative spirit prevailing
between the Centre and the Province, when in fact, the Peoples of the
North are engulfed in a climate of fear on account of the continued
presence of the Military while the activities of the Northern Provincial
Council have been stultified," Mr Wigneswaran said in his reply faxed
to SL Minister G.L. Peiris.

"I would be guilty of facilitating tokenism were I to accept such an
invitation. Nevertheless I have already sent my best wishes to the Prime
Minister Elect of India through the High Commissioner for India in Sri
Lanka," Mr Wigneswaran said in his reply to G.L. Peiris.

Wigneswaran's reply comes after considering the request in the company of NPC Board of Ministers, the letter further stated.

Jayalalithaa to boycott PM swearing-in over ‘ill-advised’ invitation to Rajapaksa

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 May 2014, 07:15 GMT]Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Ms. Jayalalithaa will boycott the
swearing-in event of India’s new Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi on 26
May, over the issue of invitation to Mahinda Rajapaksa, latest news
reports said on Friday, citing AIADMK party sources. Earlier, Ms.
Jayalalithaa described the invitation to genocide-accused Rajapaksa as
“ill-advised” and as “rubbing salt into the wounds.” Modi’s camouflage
in inviting SAARC heads of governments is impelled by his priority to
Pakistan and Muslim factor, and the Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s
immediate response to come shows the US advice behind the move,
political analysts said, adding that the USA and India long sidelining
and sabotaging the Tamil question is the boon for genocidal Colombo and
the Rajapaksas.

Modi’s New Delhi and the USA could negotiate their overlapping priority
in many other ways, but bringing in Rajapaksa either shows providing an
escape route to genocidal cum militaristic Sri Lanka, endorsed and
so-far groomed by the two powers, or shows the callous contempt and
utter disregard to the Tamil cause, or was pre-planned by a caucus to
widen the rift between New Delhi and Tamil Nadu, the analysts said.

Tamils
have no option other than making the detractors realise the gravity.
Ms. Jayalalithaa is taking the right direction, the analysts further
said.

Meanwhile, showing a healthy polarisation of political
opinion in Tamil Nadu, the DMK chief Mr. M. Karunanidhi has also made a
statement that Mr. Modi could have avoided inviting Mr. Rajapaksa.

Narendra
Modi’s party the BJP’s ally in Tamil Nadu, Mr Vaiko of the MDMK was the
first to condemn Mr. Modi for extending the invitation to Mahinda
Rajapaksa.

* * *

On Thursday, responding
to Modi’s invitation to Rajapaksa, Ms. Jayalalithaa said: “This is
tantamount to rubbing salt into the wounds of the already deeply injured
Tamil psyche,” adding that the move is “ill advised.”

Further excerpts from her response:

“It is with a deep sense of anguish that we point this out to the new Government to be formed at the Centre.”

“We
had hoped that the new Government to be formed at the Centre would be
sympathetic to the cause of Tamils and friendly to the State of Tamil
Nadu.”

“However, even before the new Prime Minister and the new
Government assume office and begin functioning, this unfortunate move of
inviting the Sri Lankan President to attend the Swearing-in Ceremony of
the new Prime Minister of India has deeply upset the people of Tamil
Nadu and wounded their sentiments all over again.”

“Particularly,
with regard to the relationship of the new Central Government with the
Government of Tamil Nadu, it would have been better if this ill advised
move had been avoided.”

“The entire country and indeed the
entire world is aware of the various Resolutions passed in the Tamil
Nadu Legislative Assembly during the last three years, with regard to
the war crimes, ethnic pogrom and genocide,” Ms. Jayalalithaa said
reminding that “we had demanded economic embargo on Sri Lanka and urged
that India should take the lead in bringing a Resolution in the United
Nations for those accused of war crimes and genocide to be brought
before the International Court of Justice and that they should be made
to face trial.”

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 May 2014, 20:06 GMT]While the Sri Lankan military was recklessly determined to suppress
the Tamil students, academics, religious dignitaries, democratically
elected political representatives and the common public against
observing the 5th Mu’l’livaaykkaal Remembrance, the University students
and academics at Jaffna University emotionally commemorated the supreme
sacrifice by the thousands of Eezham Tamils who faced the genocidal
onslaught in the final days of Vanni war. Also the elected Northern
Provincial Council (NPC) members on Thursday marked their observance by
lighting candles at the NPC Secretariat where councillors Mr
Shivajilingam and Ms Ananthi Sasitharan were blocked by the occupying SL
police, who also desecrated the tribute site at the gate.

Students
and academics at Jaffna University on Wednesday commemorated those who
perished at Mu'l'livaaykkaal facing genocidal onslaught

Both the events on
Wednesday and Thursday, showing maximum participation, expressed resolve
that the will to freedom and the aspirations of Eezham Tamils could not
be crushed by the occupying SL military. The SL State has only ended up
exposing itself to the outside world, the students at Jaffna University
told TamilNet.

In the meantime, Mr R Rasakumaran, the head of
the English Language Teaching Centre and the president of the University
Teachers’ Association (UTA), who has been voicing for the collective
rights of the students and teachers to commemorate the people who
perished in the Vanni War, was harassed by the Terrorist Investigation
Division in Jaffna on Tuesday and was later ‘summoned’ to Palaali
military base by the SL military commander in Jaffna Major General Udaya
Perera, who personally threatened the academic, informed sources told
TamilNet.

The sources said the SL commander, in his dialogue with
the academic, had come with veiled death threat against those who
observe collective remembrance.

Mr Rasakumaran was then
instructed to present himself for interrogation at the notorious ‘4th
floor’ of the Sri Lankan CID headquarters in Colombo, the sources
further said.

NPC
members, including the chief minister CV Wigneswaran, wore black robes
on Thursday when the NPC met for the first time following the 5th
Mu'l'livaaykkaal Remembrance

A section of students lighting candles at 5th Mu'l'livaaykkaal Remembrance observed inside Jaffna University on 21 May

NPC councillors paying respect to those who sacrificed their lives in Mu'l'livaaykkaal

வெள்ளி, 23 மே, 2014

New Delhi has to be told whether it wants Tamil Nadu or genocidal Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 May 2014, 23:02 GMT]New Delhi’s prime minister designate Narendra Modi can’t have an
excuse in inviting genocidal Sri Lanka’s president Mahinda Rajapaksa to
the inauguration of his government, citing his invitation to all SAARC
heads of governments. None of the States in India has ever indicted the
head of government of a neighbouring country, as the Tamil Nadu State
Assembly has unanimously resolved against Rajapaksa’s genocide of Eezham
Tamils. The Rajapaksa case is a unique case India has never seen
before, and that too considerably involving the previous Congress
government at New Delhi. Tamil Nadu, having a duty in showing a protest
in no uncertain terms to New Delhi that whether it wants its southern
State or a genocidal State in the neighbourhood, need not care Mr.
Modi’s self-invited diplomatic compulsions.

Mr. Narendra Modi has invited all SAARC Heads of State for the inauguration of his government on 26 May.

Mahinda Rajapaksa jumped at the opportunity.

Pakistan’s
Prime Minister Mr. Nawaz Sharif may not honour Mr. Modi’s invitation.
Pakistan will send only a representative. There are also contradicting
reports on Thursday that Mr Sharif might attend.

However, Jammu
and Kashmir Chief Minister, Mr Omar Abdulla has welcomed the invitation,
hoping for a beginning of sustained talks. But he didn’t fail to add a
note that what would have been the reaction of the BJP, had the
invitation sent by Rahul Gandhi as prime minister designate.

Indian
media reports were giving more weight to the Pakistan factor, citing
BJP’s indication that Mr Modi would work to a re-crafted foreign policy.

India in the past could have never imagined inviting the head of government of Israel or apartheid South Africa.

In what way the Tamils have become a no issue to New Delhi is the question.

* * *

Mr
Vaiko, a time-tested supporter of the cause of Eezham Tamils, and who
has braved himself to ally with the BJP in Tamil Nadu in the last
elections, has come out with a strong condemnation of the Modi
invitation to Rajapaksa.

With "unexplainable grief" Vaiko asked
Modi and BJP national president Rajnath Singh not to allow Rajapaksa to
attend the swearing-in ceremony, as it would hurt the Tamils the world
over, media reports in Chennai said.

Congress was shown the door by the people of Tamil Nadu for allegedly helping Colombo, Vaiko said.

Sri
Lanka was not invited when BJP's A B Vajpayee was sworn-in in 1998-99
and the subsequent ceremonies to mark assuming of offices by the UPA in
2004 and 2009, Vaiko was citing.

* * *

If Rajapaksa were allowed to come that would herald a new phase of struggle and polarisation among Tamils.

It
would be an opportunity for Tamils to register their point nationally
in India and internationally, political activists in Chennai said,
adding that there should be an end to New Delhi’s scapegoating of Tamils
right from Nehru’s times.

Mahinda Rajapaksa perhaps wants
sharpening of confrontation within India and Modi’s ‘diplomatic
restructure’ may fail at the outset by the Rajapaksa jinx, political
observers in Chennai commented.

Indian corporate to build houses for Gotabhaya’s Colombo development

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 May 2014, 07:04 GMT]Timed to the Indian election results, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa-controlled
Urban Development Authority of Colombo has made an unconventional deal
with a leading corporate house of India, the Tata Group, by giving a
prime area of Colombo city on a 99 years lease ‘free of charge’, for the
group to ‘build houses’. While Sri Lanka’s strategy is to bind India
with the structural genocide of Eezham Tamils, through Colombo-centric
interests and building Sinhala military capitals in Jaffna and
Trincomalee, the Indian intelligence agencies deceptively tell Tamil
activists that an ‘economic integration’ would bring in political
solutions. The Colombo-backing stand of Observer Research Foundation has
to be understood in the background of the actual happenings, said Tamil
activists for alternative politics in the island.

The 400 million dollar operations of Tata Housing in the heart of
Colombo city comes while New Delhi’s 50, 000 houses to war-torn Tamils
in the North and East, promised 5 years ago, is either sabotaged or
diverted to demographic genocide by Colombo.

Tata Housing will
get 8 acres in Slave Island area of Colombo, where 3 acres will be used
for providing housing to the evicted, in a floor-space equal or more
than what is taken, in addition to providing rent money between 15,000
to 52,000 rupees per month for temporary accommodation during the period
of construction.

Tata will be using the remaining 5 acres for
building a commercial-cum-residential enclave, including a city hotel,
posh residential apartments, commercial space and retail space for
apparel, departmental stores, health & beauty care, multiplex, food
courts and restaurants.

The first stage will be completed in 2
years time and the entire operation takes place on a consensual basis
among the present residents, the UDA and Tata Housing, Colombo media
reports said.

While the Tata Group has calculated strong ties
with neighbours, ‘economic potential of Colombo-centric Sri Lanka’ and
returns through future potential in real estate, the corporate will also
seek Strategic Investment Project Status and tax concessions from
Colombo.

* * *

The striking contrast
between the Indian corporate deal in Colombo and the India-backed
Sinhala military appropriation of land in the country of Eezham Tamils,
after genocidal massacre, incarceration in barbed-wire camps and refusal
to resettlement, has to be carefully grasped, said Tamil activists for
alternative politics.

Indian imperialism and corporatism could
always achieve its ways through means of recognising the parity of the
two nations and their territories in the island, rather than opting for
genocide and structural genocide of one nation by the other.

The
latter would never end the conflict in the given geopolitical context
and more than any other power Indian imperialism and corporatism should
have the bulk of the concern.

But, impelled by the greed for
short-term benefits, carried away by the time-to-time geostrategic
compulsions set by others, and with an inherent arrogance and bulldozing
attitude inherited through British colonialism and associated
Sanskritisation, a philosophy that is far away from moral high ground
long prevails in India’s approach to the island.

It is unlikely
that with a regime change there will be a change in the basic
philosophy, unless a different philosophy to respect nations and
peoples, to never contribute to genocide and to never stoop down to the
level of backing a system as that of Colombo, is taught by the people to
Indian imperialism and corporatism, for the betterment of India.

The
edification process may be easier under a political regime than under a
remote-controlled, esoteric and intelligence cum bureaucracy regime.

A
conscious initiative of the people of Tamil Nadu in the philosophical
edification of Indian imperialism and corporatism, in the case of the
national question in the island, would benefit the entire region of
South Asia in particular and humanity in general.

There is a historic opportunity.

* * *

Earlier
India’s intelligence outfits used to operate institutes and research
organisations, staffed by retired intelligence personnel, largely for
the purpose of political, military and strategic manoeuvrings. In the
campaign against the cause of Eezham Tamils, the deployment of B. Raman
and Col. Hariharan is well known.

Deployment of outfits jointly
run by intelligence and corporates is a transformation that is seen
today, as military interests and corporate interests overlap for the
benefit of the latter, pushing back national interests or peoples’
interests.

One has to carefully grasp the fundamental dynamics
behind the stand of Observer Research Foundation of India in backing the
genocidal Sri Lankan State and the Rajapaksa regime. Its latest
exercise was defending New Delhi’s abstention at UNHRC voting in Geneva.

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 May 2014, 17:17 GMT]Tamils should make their position foolproof said Gajendrakumar
Ponnambalam in an exclusive interview to TamilNet on 17 May in London.
The problem the Tamils face is two fold. The first is geopolitics and
the International Community's reasons for not wanting to recognise
Tamils nationhood and sovereignty. The second is our own problem, where
we have a party that claims to be the democratic representatives of
Tamils, but deliberately chooses not to put forward positions that make
Tamil sovereignty the fundamental basis for any political discourse.
Giving a brief account on continuing oppression and militarization of
the Tamil homeland and talking about manipulation of Tamil political
opinion by international powers both in the island and in the diaspora,
Mr Gajendrakumar called for a stronger network between Tamil Nadu and
the Eezham Tamils to prevent such deviations.

There
is no democracy in the ranks and files of the TNA. There are a few
individuals being backed by certain powers who run the affairs. In the
diaspora also there are organisations that are not answerable to the
masses, being propped up in post-2009. There are elections held in the
homeland, but the TNA is not democratic. In the diaspora there are no
elections to have the masses connected to the organisations that do the
politics, the TNPF leader said.

The people should come forward to create a situation to force the TNA to change its current course, he said.

“No
solution that does not recognize our own sovereignty and our own
nationhood will we agree to,” TNPF leader Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam
said, adding that recognition of Tamil sovereignty and nationhood was
the basis on which any solution can be found.

Criticizing the
weakness of the recent UNHRC resolution in Geneva, Mr. Ponnambalam said
that the ground reality in the homeland was getting worse. Oppression
and persecution intensified, as have land-grabs and militarization and
Sinhalicisation.

The ban of diaspora groups also affects
homeland, because it has an impact on the remittance that they send to
people in the homeland.

The Sri Lankan military is deployed to
aid Sinhalicisation and that geopolitical reasons warrant
militarization, he said, referring to Sri Lanka’s increased tilt towards
China. Likewise, Sinhala nationalist agenda is also a primary cause to
the accelerated structural genocide against the nation of Eezham Tamils.

“This
particular government has taken Sri Lankan foreign policy into a
different direction. It is very clearly taking on a very pro-Chinese
tilt” he said, adding that this has caused concern in India, the USA and
in the general West.

When asked about his opinion on how along
with Beijing, New Delhi and Washington and international organizations
that work for these Establishments refuse to accept the historical,
earned and remedial sovereignty of the Eezham Tamil nation, he said “The
Tamil people are very clear that it is through the recognition of the
Tamil nation’s distinct sovereignty that any solution could be found...
for their very existence that is fundamental.”

The problem was
two-fold, he continued. One was geopolitics and the international
community’s own reasons for not wanting to recognize it. Second was our
own fault, he opined, referring to the TNA, who deliberately do not put
Tamil sovereignty as their fundamental basis for the political
discourse.

When questioned that whether this was not the same
problem among some diaspora organizations who, despite having their
freedom of expression, were not willing to place Tamil sovereignty as
the centre of their discussion, Mr. Ponnambalam said: “I see what is
happening in the disapora much the same way as what is happening in the
homeland. You have the people who are very clear about what they want.
And you have an organization that goes before people saying exactly what
they want to hear, gets their vote and does something else.”

In
the diaspora, he continued, organization with no mass support which
emerged post-2009, had been propped up and heavily promoted by their
governments.

He called for Tamil people to be more vigilant, as
this would be the only check against international powers that would use
contradictions within the Tamil community for their own purposes.

“If
you take Geneva, if you take any other forum, when the Tamil issue is
the justification for ‘Sri Lanka’ being discussed, but at the end of the
day the Tamils actually have nothing there.”

“Our party has been
very clear that we need to build a close rapport with Tamil Nadu. I
think our biggest strength is Tamil Nadu.”

He drew a contrast with the TNA who would not work with Tamil Nadu and would work only with New Delhi.

If
a good working relationship between Tamil Nadu, the diaspora and the
homeland could be created, it would check those forces who are trying to
manipulate Tamil opinion, he said.

When asked whether he was
willing to give a practical leadership to the TNA, he was of the opinion
that it was almost impossible to have an open dialogue and debate with
them.

“Very unfortunately, the TNA is not a political party that
is democratic. The party consists of certain key individuals who are
backed by very strong, powerful countries and essentially do the bidding
of those powers that be.”

Talking about undemocratic tendencies
in the TNA, referring to the nomination TNA’s NPC CM Wigneswaran, he
said that only Sumanthiran and Sampanthan had proposed his name, whereas
the other coalition parties actually supported Mavai Senathirajah.

IF
TNA has to be brought back on track, he said: “There has to be an
alternate leadership that is created, that can actually stand for the
truth, that exposes the TNA when it cheats the people, to a point where
we become strong enough that the TNA’s own existence and its own popular
support base becomes called into question.”

He also talked about
how the 6th Amendment to the Sri Lankan unitary constitution prevented
people from talking about the creation of a separate Tamil Eelam state.

He
explained that in the limited political space available in island, his
party was uncompromising on the fundamentals of nationhood and
sovereignty.

Girl slain with Isaipiriya in SL military captivity identified

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 May 2014, 04:56 GMT]A girl seen held captive together with LTTE journalist Shoba
(Isaippiriyaa) by the genocidal military of Sri Lanka and later seen
slain, has been identified as 19-year-old Ushalini Gunalingam from
Yoakapuram, Mallaavi in Vanni, news sources in Ki’linochchi told
TamilNet Monday. The girl was not a LTTE fighter, although she had been
recruited by the movement in 2008 for a few months, according to the
relatives of the victim.

Shoba (Isaipiriya) and Ushalini Gunalingam [right]

Ushalini had left the
movement and was with the family. But, the family had lost her during a
chaotic displacement in the beginning of May 2009.

The parents,
searching for their lost daughter, have been complaining to all the
commissions, from the LLRC to the recent presidential commission,
without any outcome.

Now the photos released in public domain on the Internet had reached the family establishing the fate of the missing girl.

The
53 Division of Sri Lanka Army reportedly captured Isaipiriya. The SL
Defence Ministry had earlier claimed that the 53 Division had killed
Isaipiriya at battlefront.

Isaipiriya was a media worker and she was not a combatant.

The killings of the two are part of a large-scale massacre committed with genocidal intent.

India gets prime minister of his own political stature

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 May 2014, 15:49 GMT]After 10 years, India is getting a political prime minister of his
own stature, routing out the Sonia-Rahul-Priyanka Congress Party, the
government of which was run by a puppet prime minister and
extra-parliamentary elements such as National Security Advisors,
intelligence officials and bureaucrats. Apart from the debate on BJP’s
Hindutva polity and the impact that might come with the brute majority
given to it, the past experience of Eezham Tamils is that Non-Congress
governments were much better in post-Indira Gandhi times. Mr. Narendra
Modi’s predecessor Mr. A. B. Vajpayee earned the respect of Tamils,
despite the virtual non-existence of his party in Tamil Nadu. Mr. Modi
must have surely got the cue about the expectations behind the
unprecedentedly overwhelming victory of Ms. Jayalalithaa in Tamil Nadu.

TamilNet Editorial Board

[Image courtesy: NDTV]

[Image courtesy: NDTV]

[Image courtesy: NDTV]

A cartographical depiction of the
poll pattern would tell the realities about what is meant by ‘national’
political parties in India.

Leaving Karnataka, where a regional
party is yet to emerge, almost the entire South India and the larger
part of Eastern India have voted for parties other than the BJP and
Congress. While the ADMK, TRC and BJD, respectively swept through Tamil
Nadu, West Bengal and Orissa, the TDP (BJP ally), TRS and YSRC (the last
two are recently formed) have shared Andhra and Telangana.

In
Tamil Nadu, Ms. Jayalalithaa has proved a point in a remarkable way, by
standing alone and winning 37 out of 39 seats. The subconscious
sentiment in the polarisation is no secret.

The Tamil Nadu State
Assembly, led by Ms. Jayalalithaa, has steadily been pursuing certain
demands through unanimous resolutions repeatedly enacted. New Delhi and
the so-called national parties persistently refused to respect the
sentiments of the people of Tamil Nadu.

The Sonia Congress-led
New Delhi Establishment, well known for its complicity in the genocide
and on-going genocide of Eezham Tamils, came out with responses that
were utter ridicule of the righteous sentiments in Tamil Nadu. It didn’t
stop such acts even in the last minute of its exit, raising suspicions
whether it was a government or personal whims and fancies of an
extra-parliamentary junta that was handling the affairs of Eezham
Tamils.

Proving a change of course in the foreign policy and in
the implementation of it in the international arena may take a little
time for the new government. But, Mr. Modi could come out with an
immediate gesture of respecting the Tamil Nadu Assembly and the current
Lok Sabha mandate in Tamil Nadu, by instituting an inquiry into the
conduct of the past two Congress governments since 2004, on the affairs
of the island.

Whatever the process and outcome of such an
inquiry, bringing some key persons to accountability would certainly
kindle a national discourse on Eezham Tamils that is hitherto
suppressed, would bring in a national consensus on what to do, and would
make extra-parliamentary elements and interests not to dare in future
in meddling with a nation to the extent of the disappearance of 1,46,000
people.

Mr. Modi may have to be particularly careful about the
line of Sushma Swarajs and Subramania Swamys in the party, and
foundations like the ORF and corporate interests irresponsibly
bulldozing righteous needs of the Eezham Tamil nation facing genocide
and annihilation in the strategic neighbourhood. There is a lot of anger
on the way the BJP was playing paly-paly with Rajapaksa and genocidal
Colombo.

Reflecting on the 2014 elections, there is an opinion
that had the change in the political will been seen in May 2009, a
disaster could have been avoided or minimised in the island.

The
last five years have seen a brutal and resolute engineering aimed at
causing irreversible effects against the nation of Eezham Tamils, in the
forms of militarisation, colonisation and structural genocide – all in
active complicity of New Delhi.

The immediate task of Ms.
Jayalalithaa is to make India to stop the structural genocide, followed
by bringing in conditions for Eezham Tamils to exercise the right to
self-determination.

Ms. Jayalalithaa getting the unprecedentedly
overwhelming victory is largely due to a subconscious feeling in Tamil
Nadu that the State, ignored of its sentiments by the Centre, should get
a united strength to change the course at the Centre. Tamil Nadu failed
to do that in 2009. Now, when it has done it, whether it would go
wasted in the context of BJP getting absolute majority, is an anxiety,
say political observers in Tamil Nadu.

Mr. Modi and Ms.
Jayalalithaa have expressed mutual cooperation after the elections. Mr.
Modi may still need support at the Rajya Sabha, where the BJP for the
time being doesn’t have the majority. Ms. Jayalalithaa could also give
two-third majority for Modi government in making fundamental changes at
the centre.

Above all, Ms. Jayalalithaa could now boldly cite the
mandate in mobilising the masses to convince the Centre, convince
international forces and to disprove a bunch of media corporates and
intelligence-operated ‘opinion makers’ who were long blighting the cause
of Eezham Tamils in India as well as in the international arena.

Making
use of the wave of change, a mass mobilisation transcending political
parties should come forward in Tamil Nadu, to achieve something
substantial in this regard without delay.

SL military ridicules Mu’l’ivaaykkaal observance even in temples

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 May 2014, 23:13 GMT]The military intelligence operatives of the occupying Sri Lanka Army
deployed local goons to confront the elected Tamil representatives of
the Tamil National Alliance and Tamil National Peoples Front from
observing rituals at temples and churches in the North and East
commemorating Mu’l’livaaykkaal Remembrance Day on Sunday. As a way of
ridiculing, Sinhala soldiers entered into Nalloor Kanthasaami temple and
‘competed’ with Tamil representatives in making ‘ritual offerings’ at
the temple. The Bishop of Jaffna was under pressure to stop lighting
commemoration lamps at the churches. SL soldiers were deployed in front
of temples and churches. However, Eezham Tamils in the North and East
observed Mu’l’livaaykkaal Remembrance at their houses and businesses in
an emotional manner, passing a strong message to the world.

Tamil
representatives sitting on the ground talking to media as SL military
soldiers, without wearing military shirts, are watching them

The entire SL military apparatus in the North was deployed in blocking public events.

Earlier,
the SL military was telling the people not to have any remembrance
event at public places. The public was told to commemorate their dead at
houses and temples.

But, on Sunday the people were told not to
have any prayer at the temples or churches in remembrance of those who
perished in the genocidal onslaught.

Tamil politicians, condemning the attitude of the occupying Sri Lankan
forces, said that the conduct of the SL State and its armed forces on
Mu'l'livaaykkaal Remembrance Day was only adding another evidence to the
world in depicting the Sinhala exclusivist mind-set that doesn’t
tolerate the self-respect of Eezham Tamils in the island.

The Tamil politicians were
present at Jaffna Cathedral, Kanthasaami Temple and Veera-maa-kaa’li
temple in Nalloor after 6:00 p.m., conducting prayers, lighting of
candles and conducting religious rituals paying respect to the dead.

A local squad operated by the SL military verbally abused the Tamil
politicians, removing the coconuts from them, when Tamil politicians
prepared to break coconuts into sherds at Veera-maa-kaa'li Amman temple
in Nalloor.

Breaking coconut into sherds (Chitha’ru-theangkaay)
in front of temples is a devotional religious ritual of Saivites in
which emotions and will to remove obstacles are subconsciously
expressed.

Political observers in the North say that the present
Sinhala commander Major General Udaya Perera, occupying Jaffna, has
earlier shown ‘expertise’ in oppressing operations when he was in charge
of Ki'linochchi district after the Vanni war followed by getting
‘training’ in the USA.

When the Bishop of Jaffna came under
pressure from the SL military, a section of the priests were rushed to
Jaffna Cathedral to pass a message to avoid ‘controversies’, but the
priests and Tamil representatives had already paid their tribute with
lighting the candles, news sources told TamilNet.

SL soldiers deployed in front of worship places were instructed not to allow the tolling of bells in temples and churches.

The
SL military intelligence operatives were busy in monitoring and
following the journalists, civil activists and Tamil politicians.

A
trader and Tamil politician Thuvaarakesvaran, who is the brother of an
assassinated Tamil MP Thiyagarasa Maheswaran, had arranged for a special
religious ritual for the families that had lost their kith and kin in
the Vanni War. But, the SL military completely blocked the public from
accessing Nakuleasavaram temple where the ritual was arranged.

NPC councillor Ananthi staged a sit in protest in front of a SL military barrier on the road to the temple.

All the Tamil politicians, except the paramilitary cum political parties, were united in the commemoration event on Sunday.

The
ITAK (TNA) office at Martin Road, TNPF office at 3rd Cross Street and
the office of a newly formed party known as Tamil National Progressive
Party were under continuous surveillance by the SL military. All the
by-lanes in the vicinity of these offices were blocked and no one was
allowed to enter the offices. All the Tamil representatives came
together to observe Mu'l'livaaykkaal Remembrance Day.

However,
Tamil parliamentarians Suresh Premachandran, Sivasakthi Ananthan, S.
Sritharan proceeded with the observance with public participation at the
political offices situated in Vavuniyaa, Ki'linochchi and in Neerveali.

Ananthi goes for traditional medium of remembering the dead on Mu'l'livaaykkaal Day

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 May 2014, 08:38 GMT]Northern Provincial Council (NPC) member Ananthi Sasistharan has been
protesting in front of a Sri Lankan military barrier on Mu’l’ivaaykkaal
Remembrance Day demanding access to Keerimalai Nakuleasvaram temple at
Keerimalai for the families to perform rituals to the dead family
members. The SL military has been blocking all the avenues to the ritual
site rejecting the Tamil families from conducting the ritual during
Mu’l’livaaykaal remembrance. Keerimalai is situated in Valikaamam North
which has been subjected to militarisation and Sinhalicisation by the
occupying SL military.

Deputy Head of Valikaamam North civic council, S. Shageevan, who is also
the president of Valikaamam North uprooted peoples organisation, said
there was only SL military soldiers in Keerimalai. No civilian has been
allowed to enter the ritual site, he said taking part in the protest
launched by Ms Ananthi Sasitharan.

Ms Ananthi has been staging a protest Sunday morning in front of a new barrier put up by the occupying Sinhala soldiers.

The
main road from Thellippazhai junction to Keerimalai has been blocked by
the SL military. The Sinhala soldiers were telling the Tamils that only
external tourists were allowed to proceed further to Keerimalai.

The
SL military has been suppressing the university students, academics,
political activists and the common public from conducting any
remembrance to the thousands who perished in the genocidal war on Vanni.

On Sunday, SL soldiers were also deployed in front of political
offices and key places in the peninsula. SL military was also deployed
in front of Tamil National Peoples Front (TNPF) office in Jaffna.

Keerimalai is a pilgrim centre and is considered a sacred place to perform rituals to ancestors.

The
Siva temple established at this place by a sage called Nakula Muni is
named Nakuleasvaram, which according to the chronicles of Jaffna, is one
of earliest temples that existed prior to the arrival of Vijaya of the
Pali chronicles.

Recently, the occupying Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) has seized lands to expand a military cantonment at Keerimalai.

Tamils should project universality in Mu'l'livaaykkaal remembrance

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 May 2014, 07:08 GMT]The Jaffna University Science Teachers’ Association (JUSTA) on
Saturday condemned the Colombo government for oppressing
Mu'l'livaaykkaal remembrance. One of the obverse impacts recognised by
the JUSTA is that “it might lead to latent nostalgia for the LTTE,
despite the anger against its holding the civilians hostage in the last
stages of the war.” The JUSTA statement reeks of a deceptive twist
deployed by the agencies of the West in covertly passing the blame. New
Delhi was overt in oppressing any remembrance when its FM chose to visit
Jaffna on the 2009 Heroes Day. Tamils should not slip in recognising
and projecting the global struggle dimensions of remembering
Mu'l'livaaykkaal, commented a Jaffna University academic.

Further comments from the Jaffna University academic:

If the
oppression against Eezham Tamils as a nation continues in the island; if
the militarisation and colonisation of their land continues in a
hitherto unseen accelerated way, and if no hopes are seen on a political
solution to the national question but what is seen is sheer structural
genocide, then to what extent the continued agenda of the USA and India is fundamentally responsible for the situation in the last five years, has to be carefully perused by everyone.

According
to the JUSTA statement, Maj. Gen. Udaya Perera told the Jaffna
University VC, Deans and student leaders that “No [Mu'l'livaaykkaal]
observance in the University would be permitted on the 18th, as any
observance would amount to extolling the late LTTE leader Prabhakaran
and would thus count as an inducement to terrorism.”

This military commander of genocidal Sri Lanka occupying Jaffna was ‘trained’ in the USA after the Mu'l'livaaykkaal War.

The
diaspora in London was also instructed by some quarters to disassociate
Tiger flag in Mu'l'livaaykkaal remembrance, informed circles say.

While
Tamils are expected to erase every memory of their militant struggle or
to desecrate it, the genocidal military of Sri Lanka becoming needed,
getting pampered and being continuously licensed in the oppression of
Eezham Tamils by all the concerned powers has to be understood without
any pretensions.

With the given orientation of the concerned
powers, this genocidal military and the militarisation of the country of
Eezham Tamils will continue in escalated proportions and the oppression
cum completion of structural genocide of Eezham Tamils is only a part
of the vicious agenda.

Without any justice forthcoming, if
Mu'l'livaaykkaal remembrance has to go beyond the militant legacy, then
perhaps the remembrance should get the highlight of its deserving larger
dimension.

Mu'l'livaaykkaal is a global symbol of the global
injustice of the Establishments and their trade union parading in the
name of United Nations.

Eezham Tamils should not be awakened to
this larger reality and Mu'l'livaaykkaal should not get its deserving
global significance is the major reason for the ‘LTTE talk’ and the
oppression enacted through the agent military.

A careful
observation would show a similar trend encouraged in the post-genocide
literary output of Eezham Tamils too, so that there will be only
accusations and disputes within them and the larger forces that are
actively at work go untouched.

Why should Tamils speaking of the
war, “in which neither side owned a monopoly of terrorism,” be such an
explosive issue, asks the JUSTA statement, followed with an answer that
it is because the ideological polarisation on the national question
still remains.

Of course this is a local reason. But, while Tamils should be careful in gulping the IC paradigm of equating the war crimes of both sides,
they should also grasp the reality that Tamils remembering the war in
its proper perspective is a ‘sin’ because the side that directed the war
to end it in genocide owns the ‘monopoly of counter terrorism’.

When
Sinhalese remember the JVP they are not subjected to such a repression,
points out the JUSTA statement. Ethnicity is certainly a reason. But
remembering JVP is not as international as remembering Mu'l'livaaykkaal
for forces operating in the island to get paranoid of their own
injustices.

While some earlier academics of the Jaffna University
Science Faculty, who were awarded by the West for their reporting, have
found the fulfilment of their ‘human rights mission’ with the end of
the Mu'l'livaaykkaal War, JUSTA coming out with the current state of
oppression from the perspective of solutions to the national question,
is highly appreciable. But the current realities demand larger,
universalised understanding and projection of the struggle in facing the
ultimate culprits responsible for the plight and in extracting justice.

Tamils
will not do justice to their long history and heritage, and will not do
justice to their posterity as well as to humanity, if they do not grasp
the reality or pretend not seeing it and miss a great historic
opportunity, by failing to project the symbol of Mu'l'livaaykkaal in its
proper perspective and design their struggle appropriately.

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 May 2014, 21:01 GMT]The occupying Sinhala forces of the Sri Lankan State this year
celebrated Buddhist Vesak in a massive scale in the occupied country of
Eezham Tamils as never before. The commander of the occupying SL
military in Jaffna organised a two day military event in Jaffna. New
Delhi's Consul General in Jaffna Mr V Mahalingam and his officials were
invited to an event held at the Open Air Theatre in front of the Jaffna
Public Library together with SL State employees from the Northern
Provincial Council and the University of Jaffna. Diaspora operatives
collaborating with SL military were also seated as special guests at
the event.

While threatening the
Eezham Tamils not to observe collective commemoration events in
remembrance of the thousands of their kith and kin killed in the Vanni
genocide five years ago, the SL military used Vesak celebrations this
year as an opportunity to mark ‘Sinhala Buddhist’ victory over Eezham
Tamils.

Entertainment programs, both by SL military personnel
and dancers brought from South, were staged at the event where SL
commander Major General Udaya Perera was present with his family.

The
SL military used to celebrate the Vesak day also in the recent past.
But, this year the military celebrations have been intensified in the
five districts of North.

Former commander and the
military governor of North Maj Gen (retd) G.A. Chandrasiri was invited
as a special guest together with SL minister and EPDP paramilitary group
leader Douglas Devananda to the military event in Jaffna.

One
of the SL government operated ‘diaspora’ operatives, recently exposed as
‘Tamil CNN Kannan’, was also seen seated in the front row as the
special guest of Udaya Perera at the SL military staged Vesak event.

In the meantime, Tamil
rights activists said Vesak celebrations also reminded them of a
massacre committed by the SL military on Vesak day in the Eastern city
of Batticaloa in year 2000 adding that the ‘Vesak massacre’ is yet to
receive the attention of the international community, they said.

Thirteen
Eezham Tamils, including nine children from an orphanage were shot dead
by Sri Lanka Army soldiers in Batticaloa city during the Vesak festival
on 17 May in year 2000. The Tamil children were on a visit to
Batticaloa from a Catholic Church run orphanage in Aayiththiya-malai to
see the Vesak lanterns and festival decorations by the occupying SL
military.

The SL military had admitted a year later that a
drunken commanding officer had ordered his troops to open fire on
civilians. However, there has been no investigations on the Vesak
massacre of May 17, 2000.

In the meantime, the
Sinhala policemen in Jaffna blocked the elected Tamil representatives
from observing a collective commemoration event inside the Northern
Provincial Council and desecrated the floral tribute and the lamps when
NPC councillors observed the event at the main entrance on Friday.

Tamil councillor marks Remembrance Day at Mu’l’livaaykkaal West

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 May 2014, 14:49 GMT]Elected Northern Provincial Council (NPC) member Thurairasa Ravikaran
from Mullaith-theevu on Saturday paid tribute to thousands of Eezham
Tamils who perished facing the genocidal war 5 years ago in Vanni. The
occupying Sri Lankan military soldiers were quick to discover the event
and warned the TNA councillor not to proceed with the tribute. SL
military intelligence operatives rushed to the spot with cameras taking
video of the participants at Mul’l’ivaaykkaal West. The SL military
officers said they had instructions not to allow any remembrance event
to take place. However, Mr Ravikaran proceeded with the event stating
that no body could stop him from gifting school children education
material marking the remembrance of their kith and kin, who lost their
lives in the war.

The SL military soldiers at
Mu’l’ivaaykkaal attempted to block the small gathering and passed
message to the intelligence wing operatives who came to the location
within a few minutes with video cameras.

SL military officers who came in motorbikes ordered the NPC member and the people to disperse.

However,
Mr Ravikaran was quick to stage the event paying tribute to Tamil
fighters and the people who perished in the genocidal war.

After
confronting the SL military officers, the NPC member proceeded with the
event gifting children education material in remembrance of their kith
and kin, who had sacrificed their lives in the genocidal onslaught.

While
the SL military was staging events paying tribute to their fallen, why
Eezham Tamils are not even allowed to remember their dead, the Tamil
councillor asked.